Throughout the past two years, I have rotated mainly through one system. To my dismay, it had been one of the worst as far as electronic health records (EHR) are concerned. Most days I observed the workflow, thinking “If they just did this, they would cut the duration of morning rounds in half.” Let us look past the point that I was usually bored out of my mind!
There was just so much wasted time in dealing with documentation and communication. We are in the digital age. It really shouldn’t be this complicated. I cannot imagine how frustrated the residents and attending physicians must have gotten during this nonsense. This part of the job, which is non-medical, has likely been the direct cause of many doctors’ burnout statuses.
Since I have limited exposure to other systems, I am curious to know if this was a well-below average situation or a fairly normal one (feel free to comment below).

GARDEN CITY, N.Y., Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ — DocPatientNetwork.com, Inc. announced today that Doctations, Version 2.0 is 2011/2012 compliant and is certified as a Complete EHR by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®), an ONC-ATCB, in accordance with the applicable Eligible Provider certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The 2011/2012 criteria support the Stage 1 meaningful use measures required to qualify eligible providers and hospitals for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The ARRA allows for a series of bonus payments for providers and hospitals for “meaningful use” of certified EHR technology. Beginning in 2011, healthcare users of a meaningful use EMR system can receive a total of $44,000 under Medicare or $64,000 under Medicaid. These amounts more than cover the costs of the Doctations service multiple times over.

Hundreds of companies in the health IT industry have expressed strong interest in meaningful use certification. DocPatientNetwork.com spent several years developing and perfecting Doctations, its award winning EHR product that offers doctors an integrated system for efficiently managing their practice. The company is one of only 28 EHR providers in the country to have their technology certified as a Complete EHR by CCHIT, providing evidence that there are no market entry barriers for smaller companies to receive certification.

A recent Thomson Reuters report states the healthcare industry can realize $3.6 trillion in savings over the next 10 years through improved efficiencies and best practices. Doctations is designed to help practices realize substantial time and monetary gains through improved competitive pricing and technology efficiencies in EHR management. The product’s pricing model is available online and completely transparent, and the basic pricing tier provides free scheduling, messaging, tasking, videoconferencing and other functions. Doctations’ state of the art product is also available as a free version which creates an integrated network for doctors and patients. Use of Doctations enables an instant network between doctor, patient, and participating healthcare centers.

“We believe in CCHIT, and we believe in Meaningful Use because both promote better, more integrated healthcare,” stated Dr. Louis Cornacchia III, Founder and CEO of DocPatientNetwork.com, Inc. “Since 2001, we have not wavered from our original mission of ‘Better Health through Technology.’ We built the DPN health network from the ground up to connect doctors, patients and any other healthcare entity FOR FREE while providing premium DPN services like the Doctations Cloud EMR and the iBillWell Cloud medical billing as premium services at a fraction of the cost of office-based EMR systems with twice the power. Our amazing rate of growth and adoption by the industry is a testament to the quality of our product and its ability to create a real network. We feel our bulletproof software, very affordable pricing, and transparency make us the best-in-class player in the EHR marketplace,” said Dr. Cornacchia.

Doctors and patients each have their own iPhone/iPad apps to access the DPN Healthcare Cloud. Soon DPN will be accessible from Android, Windows7 and BlackBerry smartphones. The DPN cloud platform means everyone can connect, interoperate and exchange information securely JUST BY REGISTERING ONLINE and LOGGING IN. You pay only for premium services.

The ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certification program tests and certifies that Complete EHRs meet all of the 2011/2012 criteria and EHR Modules meet one or more – but not all – of the criteria approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) for either eligible provider or hospital technology.

“We believe our product’s certification is further proof that a company of our small size can thrive amongst larger, less nimble competitors. As a practicing neurosurgeon, I have personal perspective on using EHR services and I believe our product is fully integrated and much less expensive to use than competitive offerings. I strongly feel our company can singlehandedly change healthcare based on our efficient technology, allowing us to trim $1 trillion per year in national health care waste while preserving the dignity of the doctor-patient relationship and the medical profession,” continued Dr. Cornacchia.

“CCHIT is pleased to be testing and certifying products so that companies are now able to offer these products to providers who wish to purchase and implement certified EHR technology and achieve meaningful use in time for the 2011-2012 incentives,” said Karen M. Bell, M.D., M.S.S., Chair, CCHIT.

The Doctations 2.0 certification number is CC-1112-371480-1. ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certification conferred by CCHIT does not represent an endorsement of the certified EHR technology by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services nor does it guarantee the receipt of incentive payments.

The clinical quality measures to which Doctations 2.0 has been certified include:

The additional software that Doctations 2.0 relied upon to demonstrate compliance includes iMedicalhome 2.0. imedicalHome is a complete patient health information system available for free to all patients simply by registering.

About DocPatientNetwork

DocPatientNetwork is an innovative, internet-enhanced means of transacting healthcare. Doctors simply login to www.doctations.com to register, and for about the price of a cell phone subscription, they are given all of the tools needed to run an efficient, state-of-the-art medical practice. We leverage the internet to make healthcare more accessible to patients and to substantially improve the processes of healthcare such as generating medical documentation, medical billing and denial management. DocPatientNetwork and its Doctations product bring physicians the benefit of the first true internet EMR and PMS without the burden or expense of difficult-to-use software. The company’s technology is updated monthly to accommodate new users and new ideas from our member physicians, other healthcare providers and patients.

Wednesday October 13th, 2010-Recently we had a chance to catch up with Drummond Group’s President, Beth Morrow, to discuss the current status of EHR certification from the perspective of the approved certification bodies. Thanks to Beth, EHR Scope has gained some insight to share regarding the ONC-ATCB certification testing process, as well as the struggles EHR software companies are currently enduring.

“Our biggest challenge is when folks are registering, and want to get in as soon as possible… then the date comes, and they aren’t ready. The details of running these test scripts are substantial… It is very intensive work and not to be underestimated.”

CHICAGO, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ — Allscripts (Nasdaq: MDRX) announced today that Allscripts Professional™ EHR, Version 9.2 is 2011/2012 compliant and was certified as a Complete EHR on Sept. 30, 2010 by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®), an Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC-ATCB), in accordance with the applicable eligible provider certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The 2011/2012 criteria support the Stage 1 meaningful use measures required to qualify eligible providers and hospitals for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Additionally, the company announced that Allscripts ED™, Version 6.3 Release 4, and Allscripts PeakPractice™ Version 5.5 are both 2011/2012 compliant and were certified as EHR Modules on Sept. 30, 2010 by CCHIT, in accordance with the applicable hospital and eligible provider certification criteria, respectively, adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

“This certification of the first group of Allscripts Electronic Health Records for mid-sized physician groups and for Emergency Department physicians demonstrates the significant progress we’ve made in certifying our entire portfolio of acute and ambulatory EHRs, all of which we’ve committed to complete before the end of the year, well in advance of when our clients will need the ARRA stamp of approval,” said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts.

Mr. Tullman continued, “The Federal incentives for EHR adoption represent an unparalleled opportunity for healthcare organizations to bend the curve on healthcare quality and cost. We believe our ARRA-certified products – coupled with our experience delivering meaningful value for tens of thousands of physician practices and hospitals across the country – make Allscripts an ideal organization to partner with as we create the future of healthcare together.”

The ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certification program tests and certifies that Complete EHRs meet all of the 2011/2012 criteria and EHR Modules meet one or more – but not all – of the criteria approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) for either eligible provider or hospital technology. Companies offering ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certified EHR modules may return to test additional criteria and certify their products as Complete EHRs later. Companies certifying products early in the ONC-ATCB certification process must quickly adapt their products to meet the evolving nature of the NIST test procedures, particularly for electronic prescribing. ONC-ATCB product certification updates will be available at http://www.cchit.org as they occur.

“CCHIT is pleased to be testing and certifying products so that companies are now able to offer these products to providers who wish to purchase and implement certified EHR technology and achieve meaningful use in time for the 2011-2012 incentives,” said Karen M. Bell, M.D., M.S.S., Chair, CCHIT.

2011/2012 certification conferred by CCHIT does not represent an endorsement of the certified EHR technology by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services nor does it guarantee the receipt of incentive payments.

Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) provides innovative solutions that empower all stakeholders across the healthcare continuum to deliver world-class outcomes. The company’s clinical, financial, connectivity and information solutions for hospitals, physicians and post-acute organizations are the essential technologies that enable a connected healthcare community. To learn more about Allscripts, please visit www.allscripts.com, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

About CCHIT

The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®) is an independent, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with the public mission of accelerating the adoption of robust, interoperable health information technology. The Commission has been certifying electronic health record technology since 2006 and is approved by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as an Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC-ATCB). More information on CCHIT, CCHIT Certified® products and ONC-ATCB certified electronic health record technology is available at http://cchit.org.

About ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certification

The ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certification program tests and certifies that EHR technology is capable of meeting the 2011/2012 criteria approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). The certifications include Complete EHRs, which meet all of the 2011/2012 criteria for either eligible provider or hospital technology and EHR Modules, which meet one or more – but not all – of the criteria. ONC-ATCB certification aligns with Health Information Technology: Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Record Technology published in the Federal Register in July 2010 and strictly adheres to the test procedures published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at the time of testing. ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certification conferred by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®) does not represent an endorsement of the certified EHR technology by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services nor does it guarantee the receipt of incentive payments.

“CCHIT®” and “CCHIT Certified®” are registered trademarks of the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology.

Ingenix is back in the news with recent CCHIT certification under ONC-ATCB meaningful use guidelines. As more companies are certified and the EMR/ EHR market begins to settle; larger players like Ingenix stand with an advantage. Over the next several months, we will be blogging about specific characteristics that make the most- recent versions of each record system competitive. With this in mind, we thought we would take a more in-depth look at what Ingenix’s EMR software, CareTracker, offers its subscribers. Continue reading: In the News: An Overview of Ingenix CareTracker EMR

Last week the ONC announces its final rule for the temporary certification program. Thursday, Just 1st , the ONC will launch this certification program.

This means that this program will become available for non-for-profit organizations to apply to become authorized testers and certifiers of electronic health records. The Certification Commission for Health IT (CCHIT) will be one of the first organizations to apply.

It is expected that the testing and certifying of the EHRs will begin end of summer, beginning of fall.

The reason for this temporary certification is so providers will be able to qualify for meaningful use in 2011 and is to expire at the end of the year. Beginning January 1, 2011 the permanent certification will begin.

To qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentives in the stimulus bill EHRs must demonstrate “meaningful use”.As readers of these pages know, “meaningful use” has yet to be officially defined. One certain criterion is e-prescribing, as systems need to already have an e-prescribing function to qualify for current Medicare incentives. Continue reading: CHIME “Chimes in” on Meaningful Use of EHRs

Undoubtedly you have read or heard the phrase “19 billion dollars in the Stimulus Act for Healthcare IT” several times by now. I have discussed it myself many times on these pages. Most recent posts have centered on the HITECH act and what its goal of accelerating the implementation of EHRs and PHRs willdo for the practice of medicine and public health. Continue reading: Will EHRs and HIT Create New Jobs?